


Woke Up New

by lovelymoony



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Wolfstar AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1952874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelymoony/pseuds/lovelymoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don’t have an extra bed but I do have a couch you could borrow for tonight, or really, for however long you need to.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Woke Up New

Long fingers reached out, the tips pressing gently against the trembling leg of the man that sat next to him.

"It’s going to be okay." He whispered softly, which only earned him a nod in response, which he couldn’t help but chuckle at. "You’d think that this was your trial and not mine-"

At that, the other man turned to look at him, his teeth tugging at his bottom lip, and his brown eyes full of worry.

"Relax, Remus. In a matter of minutes my name is going to be cleared."

"But how can you be so certain?" Remus asked, his hands now twisting in his lap.

Sirius moved his hand that had been resting against Remus’ worn trousers and laced their fingers together. His steely grey eyes searching Remus’ face for a moment before the corner of his lips quirked up some.

"If they weren’t going to clear my name, do you think they would have let you back here with me? Do you think they would have sent the Dementors from the room?"

"But-"

"Shh, Remus. Trust me on this. It’s going to be fine, they’re going to free me, and once my name is cleared…" Sirius trailed off, his hand giving Remus’ a gentle squeeze.  
"Lets not talk about that right now. Lets just.. focus on getting through this trial and making sure you walk out of here as a free man."

Remus was right, now was not the time to worry about that. After all it had been four years, miles and seas separating the two of them. So much had happened in that time, they carried different scares and ghosts, pain lingering from supposed betrayal. Right now they needed to focus on what was at hand, about the trial that would set Sirius free from Azkaban once and for all. And he couldn’t help the way his heart leaped at the thought of that. To walk out of the cold stone tower, to feel the salty ocean breeze comb its way through his hair, and the sun shining upon his cold and pale skin. It almost seemed too good to be true, like some kind of pleasant dream that he was sure to wake up from. His eyes closed slightly, hand still wrapped around Remus’, and drew in a deep breath, feeling his own nerves finally starting to make their way through his body-

“Mister Black.” The cold voice cut through his thoughts and his eyes flew open, landing on the Ministry worker that stood before the two of them. “And I take it that this is your witness, the werewolf.” Hatred sliced through his bones as the man moved his eyes to Remus and it took everything Sirius had in him to not jump up and ring the man’s neck. That would hardly look good when he was about to go in and fight to be freed.

“Yes, I am his witness, Sir.” Came Remus’ calm voice and Sirius silently sent him his thanks, knowing that Remus knew how the man’s comment had set him on edge.

“Both of you, follow me.” And without another word, the Ministry worker disappeared the door he had came out from behind and Sirius climbed to slightly shaking legs. This time it was Remus who gave the squeeze to his hand and Sirius looked over at him, giving him a smile of thanks that he wasn’t quite for sure reached his eyes.

The made their way across the small holding cell, following after the man quietly as their shoes squeaked against the floor. The sound echoing off of the walls around them as they continued to walk along the narrow and cold corridor. Each step that they took made his stomach churn, made him want to turn around and run for it. What if after all of this, they still didn’t clear his name? What if it was some kind of cruel joke the Ministry had decided to play? To get his hopes up to only have them crushed with the laughing faces of the Ministry workers as they sent him back to his cell?

He was jerked from his thoughts as they finally came to another door and he felt Remus’ hand slip from his own. The two of them shared a look for a moment before slipping into another small room that the worker had headed into it. He sat along one side of the room with several other employees. A wooden chair sat in the middle of the room and one off to the side and for a moment, both of them just stood there.

“Lets start with the werewolf first.” Said a man on the right, his grey beard nearly reaching down to his stomach. Remus gave a nod and approached the chair in the middle of the room, taking one look at the court in front of him before taking his seat. His hands twitched nervously in his lap, his tongue poking at his bottom lip as the men before him scanned over the papers. The ones he had filed when he had came in only weeks ago.

“Tell us what happened, from the beginning.” Spoke another man but this time Remus didn’t even bother to look and see who had said it. His eyes drifted around the room and he watched for a few seconds as Sirius was ushered to the wooden chair that sat in the back corner. He had been hoping that he would have been able to look at Sirius while he spoke, something that would have kept him grounded as he recalled the events that had lead them to here.

It took him a few seconds to calm himself, wondering if he could once more tell the story of what had happened on that bizarre night. The night when his entire world was flipped upside down, one that had left even more scars upon him. But he knew that if he didn’t say something soon, they would cast them from the small court room. That the chance of Sirius being freed would be tossed away and he would be lost in a world that barely made sense to him even more. So he rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants, brown eyes scanning the sea of bored faces before him, and cleared his throat.

“It was Halloween night. James and Lily had invited me over to their place but I turned them down. I haven’t seen them much over the years, Merlin knows that they have tried but with all that had happened, I didn’t feel right.” Remus rambled, knowing that none of what he was saying was important to what the court wanted to hear. So he curled his fingers against the fabric of his pants and continued on. “I was just about to head off to bed when I heard a knock on my door. I figured that it was just some neighborhood kids looking for candy. So I opened it to tell them I didn’t have any and when I did, I thought that I was standing face to face with a ghost.”

Remus paused for a moment, his eyes closing, and he took another deep breath.

“Who was standing there, number 5103?” Asked another man and Remus’ eyes flickered to his ragged face.

“His name is Remus.” Sirius added bitterly from behind him and Remus couldn’t help but let the corner of his lips quirk some.

“Peter Pettigrew. He was supposed to have been dead, Sirius had killed him four years ago. I thought maybe it was some kind of cruel joke but he had this smile on his face, and-” He paused again, closing his eyes, and gave a shake of his head. Willing his emotions to not get the best of him. “He had on Sirius’ old leather jacket. I knew it was his because of the pins that had always been on it. And the harder I looked at him, I realized that he was wearing all of Sirius’ clothes. The ones that had been in Sirius’ flat since the day he was sent to Azkaban. We just stood there, looking at each other for a moment before he took a step forward and pushed his way inside of my house.”

The man that had lead them to the room shifted some in the front, “As entertaining as this is, can you cut to the point? What did Mister Pettigrew say to you?”

Remus narrowed his eyes some, locking them with the man in front of him. “He said how funny life could be sometimes. And wasn’t I glad to see a friendly face since I decided to lock myself away in my house four years ago. I asked him what he meant and he just started laughing. Then he got this look on his face, one of a mad man, and told me that he had framed his own murder on Sirius. That he planned everything that night when Sirius went to check on Lily and James. The people on the streets had been on in it. That the plan was to get revenge because of what we had done to him.”

He gave a shake of his head and brought his hands up to his temples, rubbing at them for a moment, before letting them drop back down into his lap. “He was mad that we didn’t tell him about what was going on. Hell, I hardly even knew. Sirius told me the bare amount of what I needed to keep me from getting suspicious. Peter followed him that night. Was lead right to James and Lily’s doorstep. He was working for Voldemort. Showed me the mark on his arm. Had all intentions of killing them and Harry, then make it look like Sirius had committed the murders and killed him in the process. But Sirius caught whiff of him, knew that he was there, and he knew that it was too much of a risk to kill James, Lily, and Harry. That he had time to do one thing, anything that would ruin all of our lives. So he and the people on the streets made it seem like Sirius had killed him. Blew him to bits. But he went into hiding, went to Sirius’ place to keep tucked away since no one would step foot in it again.”

By the time he was done, Remus could feel his heart racing. “I stunned Peter.” He added, his voice flat. “And floo called the Ministry. They came and got him. Brought me in to file the papers. The next morning I requested a visit to Azkaban to tell Sirius what had happened. I’ve been visiting him there ever since until his trial was set.” There was nothing else to say and the men before him seemed to realize that as well. So when he made to get to his feet, no one stopped him, and someone from the back row muttered something. As he turned, he faced Sirius who had a hand pressed against his mouth. Remus wanted to say something, to say anything but he felt so drained. So he leaned against the wall next to where Sirius sat.

“Number- Mister Lupin’s story matches the same one Mister Pettigrew has told us under Veritaserum. And with that, Mister Sirius Orion Black is cleared of all charges and is hereby freed from Azkaban.” There was another murmur among the men before they all stood, giving jerky nods to both Remus and Sirius but neither of them paid much attention as they filed out of the room, leaving only the two of them.

Sirius was free. After four years of being locked away in Azkaban for a murder he did not commtt, Sirius could walk out of the Ministry and begin to live his life once more.

Silence hung between the two of them and finally what felt like a lifetime, Sirius pushed his way out of his chair and moved over to where Remus was still leaning against the wall.

“Moony-” He croaked out the old nickname, though it felt foreign and forbidden on his tongue. “I- Thank you.”

Remus gave a shake of his head, “You have nothing to thank me for. I’m just glad that Peter was foolish enough to show up at my place. There must have been some reason for it, he wouldn’t just come and tell the truth.” Remus’ brow furrowed some as his mind raced with reasons of why Peter would have done this. Why he would have turned himself in after all these years, if he was working for Voldemort, if he was a Death Eater-”

A hand on his shoulder stopped the thoughts from tumbling from his lips. “We’ll have time to worry about that later, Moony. It’s been a long day. You should go home.”

“What about you? Where are you going to go? Do you think Lily and James-?”

Sirius gave a shake of his that was accompanied by a sad smile on his face. “I don’t think right now is a good time for me to go and see them. I’ll send them an owl. Maybe find a place in Diagon Alley to stay the night.”  
Remus shifted from foot to foot, “I don’t have an extra bed but I do have a couch you could borrow for tonight, or really, for however long you need to.”

A grin stretched upon his lips, “I’m sure your couch will be more comfortable than the floor of Azkaban.”


End file.
